Modified Cage: With Pics!

[lawryde 0]

There was a post a while back about a cage with some bars cut out of it.

http://www.modsquadhockey.com/forums/index...showtopic=33459

I decided to give that a try and cut out a few bars in my cage since there were a few in my field of vision I really didn't like.

I only play in a rec adult league so no one really cares if your face protection isn't certified.

I started by removing four of the bars with a mini hacksaw.

I then polished the cuts ends with some emery cloth.

It turns out that cage manufacturers make the gap between two bars just BIG enough for a hockey puck to go through.

I took a pair of channel lock pliers and bent the two bars on either side of the larger gap so that a puck could not go through.

Pliers Pic

Puck Pic

New Hole Pic

After all this was completed, I gave it a coat of paint with a rust proof spray on.

Finished Product

I've played several games, and the visibility is noticeably better.

Most likely I've destroyed the structural integrity of the entire cage and a stiff slap shot will shatter it into a million shards of metal that will horribly disfigure me, and I will have to quit my job due to my good looks being the only thing that pays the bills.... or maybe I'll just be able to see the puck better.

[hockeyplayah18 0]

lol...just the right size for a puck to fit in at the right speed

no way that'll pass a refs approval or anything like that

[Ti-girl 0]

I'd be more afraid of getting a stick through the holes...but each to their own I suppose.

It takes all types...

[shifter 0]

thats a big hole!

[Cove 39]

Whats the point ? It looks like a football makes now, your going to get hurt using that dude. I wouldnt.

[lawryde 0]

lol...just the right size for a puck to fit in at the right speed

no way that'll pass a refs approval or anything like that

Again, this is just a rec league and there is no requirement for any face protection at all. Refs haven't said anything to me.

I'd be more afraid of getting a stick through the holes...but each to their own I suppose.

It takes all types...

If you haven't already, try putting the butt-end of a stick through the holes in a standard cage. It fits through, even when taped generously. If a butt-end is spearing at your face, a standard cage won't necessarily stop it either.

Whats the point ? It looks like a football makes now, your going to get hurt using that dude. I wouldnt.

The point is pucks can't get through it unless God himself shoots it at exactly the right angle and at speeds that the people I play against can't achieve. Also my mouth and teeth are protected from random high sticks, and I can see better than a normal cage.

[hockeyplayah18 0]

The point is pucks can't get through it unless God himself shoots it at exactly the right angle and at speeds that the people I play against can't achieve. Also my mouth and teeth are protected from random high sticks, and I can see better than a normal cage.

just be careful with it...remember what happend to Boucher when scott gomez took a shot and nailed his right between the cateye

[lawryde 0]

The point is pucks can't get through it unless God himself shoots it at exactly the right angle and at speeds that the people I play against can't achieve. Also my mouth and teeth are protected from random high sticks, and I can see better than a normal cage.

just be careful with it...remember what happend to Boucher when scott gomez took a shot and nailed his right between the cateye

Did I mention this is a Rec(beer)League, and I'm not playing against Scott Gomez?

[Joker518 0]

One of our goalies took a slapper to the catseye a few months back and the cage actually gave at a seam and cut him pretty deep over the eye to the point that he needed surgery. It was an old cage but still, the structural integrity IS a big issue and potentially dangerous, but I hear where you're coming from...

[SickWithIt 0]

not bad.. how long did it take you?

[Rustpot 1]

I don't think he was implying you're playing Scott Gomez, just that the odds of that unique series of circumstances occurring is low enough most people don't think about it, but high enough that you want to make sure it doesn't happen.

I play pickup an rec league. The guys that play with no facial protection are just fine. Me? I though about taking off the cage, how much more comfortable it would be. Then I took a deflected puck to the cage that made my ears hurt and my head spin, and a stick under the chin that ripped my relatively secure helmet right off my head. I think a little chin irritation is worth my mug.

Murphy's Law says that within the first 2 games you play with your cage like that, you'll take a stickblade up high and get eyebrow stitches.

[hockeyplayah18 0]

my point was that it could happen.

[RadioGaGa 162]

I play with a guy who cut out a TON of the bars on his cage...

Imagine yours with the 2 front bars and the cross bar all gone. He's got his almost that open.

[the iceman 132]

Doesn't LaDainian Tomlinson wear one of those? :)

[Kevin 5]

The most important parts of one's face to protect with a cage or shield are the eyes. Your modified cage minimizes the most important facial protection.

[D aka speck 0]

Doesn't LaDainian Tomlinson wear one of those? :)

Not exactly, "Darth" Tomlinson's is black :lol:

[lawryde 0]

The most important parts of one's face to protect with a cage or shield are the eyes. Your modified cage minimizes the most important facial protection.

Understandable, I guess it comes down to discussion held in other forums of "to wear a cage or not to wear a cage". It's all about the level of risk you're willing to accept.

It could be worse that I still feel safe since I'm wearing a "full cage".

However, like I said, if a butt-end is spearing towards your eye, for whatever reason, it's going through the square in your cage, and into your eye socket.

Hockey is a dangerous sport.

[Hockey Player 0]

Can a stick blade go through it? I'm guessing yes, as well as the knob.

[djosbun 0]

thats a big hole!

I work with a girl like that.

[chilaxin12 2]

I think joe thorton wore something like that when he was injured one year. I would rather wear a half or nothing, with a half a stick might glance off your face or something but I'd hate to get hit with a stick or puck that squeezes in there and then doesn't come out that easily.

[Cavs019 710]

Would you guys relax? Many people play mens league with an oakley small straight tilted above their eyes or no facial protection at all.

[Ti-girl 0]

I'd be more afraid of getting a stick through the holes...but each to their own I suppose.

It takes all types...

If you haven't already, try putting the butt-end of a stick through the holes in a standard cage. It fits through, even when taped generously. If a butt-end is spearing at your face, a standard cage won't necessarily stop it either.

I was thinking more of the blade of the stick...like on a follow through...but most of the players I play against use Int sticks.

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

why not buy one of those combos... hey, there's a concept!

[hapamatt122 0]

I was thinking more of the blade of the stick...like on a follow through...but most of the players I play against use Int sticks.

blades on INT sticks are the same size as senior blades.

..with a few cut bars, this guy still has a lot more protection then most of the ppl in the league's I've played in.

[lawryde 0]

why not buy one of those combos... hey, there's a concept!

too foggy, and I like messing up a nice Mission helmet with an ugly cut up cage... makes gear snobs cringe :P